Curran '13 Wins Client Counseling Competition

Curran '13 Wins Client Counseling Competition

James Curran '13 successfully navigated five rounds of mock client interviews to win the law school's Donna Jo Morse Client Counseling Competition. He and runner-up Chaula Shukla '13 will team up to represent Albany Law School at the American Bar Association's Client Counseling Regional Competition in February.

In each round of the Donna Jo Morse Client Counseling Competition, competitors have 15 minutes to interview another student playing the role of a prospective client. The client has a list of facts that are unknown to the competitor; a key component of the interview process is to elicit as many of these facts as possible.

Curran decided to enter the client counseling competition because he liked the idea of doing client intake interviews, which he sees as an integral skill for associates at law firms. In his final round, Curran interviewed a client who had recently gotten a DWI and simultaneously been charged with resisting arrest.

A Long Island native and Siena College graduate, Curran initially wanted to be a history teacher, but ultimately determined that he could make a broader impact as an attorney. Last summer, he interned at the Washington County District Attorney's Office, and he recently secured a position working for the minority counsel for the New York State Assembly, which will begin on Jan. 12 and continue through the summer.

Curran is also captain of the Albany Law School men's rugby team, which recently won a tournament of six law school teams held at Vermont Law School.